It seems more and more likely that continuous vaccination against the mutating coronavirus will be necessary, and on Wednesday, the CEO of Pfizer suggested that recipients of the vaccine are likely to need a third booster dose next year.
It is widely speculated that vaccination against the coronavirus will not be a one-off agreement, and given the disproportionate availability of the vaccine around the world, it will probably take years to push the issue out permanently. Today, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla confirmed that Pfizer’s vaccine – and probably Moderna’s equivalent – needed a third booster dose, and that the company was still working on determining the ideal time frame for it. .
“We have to see what the sequence will be, and how often we have to do it remains to be seen,” Bourla said in an interview with CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health. “A likely scenario is that there will probably be a need for a third dose, between six and twelve months, and from there there will be re-vaccination every year, but that needs to be confirmed.”
For those who are just getting their first doses, this will mean getting a shot at the end of the year, or somewhere in the spring.
According to official figures from the third phase of Pfizer’s vaccine, it is 91% effective against COVID-19 infection and more than 95% effective against serious diseases. up to six months after the second dose. But researchers are still trying to determine whether the immunity will persist or begin to decline after the six-month period.
Moderna has already developed a booster shot specific for the B.1.351 or ‘South African’ variant, and trials for it by the National Institutes for Health began this week. As Reuters reports, Tal Zaks, chief medical officer of Moderna, said this week that the company expects the booster to be ready for distribution by the end of 2021.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have already been shown to be effective against the B.1.1.7 or “UK” variant, which is now the dominant strain in the US.
The comment from Pfizer CEO comes on the same day that David Kessler, the scientific officer of Covid response from Biden administration originating from UCSF, told the House Select subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis that the need for booster shots are likely.
“We do not know everything yet at this moment,” he told CNBC. “We are studying the durability of the antibody response. It seems strong, but there is a slight decrease in it, and the variant is undoubtedly a challenge … it makes these vaccines work harder. So I think only for planning purposes, but only for “For planning purposes, we should expect a boost.”
Sure hope they fix the MyTurn website and all its junk by the time we all have to do it again!
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